Tolko's Paper Mill in The Pas, Manitoba, to Receive $2.26 Million for Green Energy Project

Oct. 12, 2010 - Public Safety Minister Vic Toews on Friday (Oct. 8) announced that Tolko’s kraft paper mill in The Pas, Manitoba, will receive $2.26 million under the Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program. The funding will be used to improve the power boiler at the mill.

“Our support for these projects will help Tolko replace its fossil fuel consumption with renewable energy,” said Minister Toews. “This is a good example of how government investments in energy-efficient technologies are lowering the environmental impact of Canada’s forest industry and establishing the groundwork for a renewed, more competitive sector.”

The new equipment will increase the production of thermal energy from wood waste, and black liquor, by close to 114,000 gigajoules a year — enough energy for 2,650 households. This increase will reduce the mill’s need to use fossil fuels to compensate for renewable energy shortfalls, thusly lowering The Pas mill’s greenhouse gas emissions by around 10,000 tonnes per year.

According to Natural Resources Canada, Tolko is one of 24 pulp and paper companies across Canada that qualified for credits under the $1-billion program, based on their 2009 production levels of black liquor, a liquid by-product of the pulping process used to generate heat and power.